Christmas x 6 in Pictures

Wow, have we had a fun Christmas season! We are so blessed to have been able to spend time with our family this year. Below are some pictures from the SIX Christmases of 2009!

Christmas at Aunt Becky's with all the "Scritchfield" kids (minus Nicholas, Katy and Connor!).

Listening to the story of Jesus' birth. 'Tis the Reason for the Season! Happy Birthday, Jesus!


Our house with brand new LED icicle lights (cute and energy efficient!). Thanks to my dear, sweet hubby for climbing on the roof to put them up!

The Roden family Christmas tree - with a VERY special blessing sitting right in front!

Our tree again. If you look closely towards the bottom of the tree, there's a big circle ornament with glitter around the edges. That one's handmade from precious Abigail! Our first handmade ornament as parents!

Going on a golf cart ride at Poppy's to check out the neighborhood decorations.

Wow, you mean Rudolph's nose lights up AND he sings?! What could be better?

Going for a stroll...

Looking at the outside tree lights!

Robby and Wade (aka table tennis champ!) playing ping pong. It's a little over 70 degrees on Christmas Eve-Eve and these boys break a sweat!

Abby was taking notes and cheering on her Daddy!

She wanted to give it a try!

After mastering ping pong, she wanted to give Wii a try. Notice the "oooh" face!

Mason had to show his stuff, too.

Then he wanted to try ping pong.

R+K

Abby on a wagon ride! She loves it! Don't worry, it is pretty warm outside!

Time for presents! Mason can really tear into them!

Hey, who is this one for?

Abigail and her Poppy in front of the tree!

A quick bedtime story!

Almost 75 the day before, and now what? Even though you can't tell in this picture, it just began snowing at our house on Christmas Eve!

All of the grandkids have their own trees at Mimi's house. Here's Abigail's gorgeous hot pink tree!

Abigail's tree all lit up!

Mason's blue tree!

Chris and Randi's baby-to-be even had a tree!

...and the stockings were hung!

Abby and Precious trying to help in the kitchen!

Mimi cooking a delicious dinner.

Abigail and Santa share the same drink of choice.

The trees (and presents!) at Mimi's.

Abby Claus

Snowing on Christmas Eve! Our first White Christmas!

A message in the snow!

Eating at the kiddie table. In this case, that is a big girl accomplishment! She ate all by herself!

This is the first time they've actually played together! Merry Christmas!

Artists at work.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus, er, I mean Jones.

Yay! Time for presents!

You can tell Abigail thinks her new bracelet is special.

Mason proving he knows what to do when faced with a present! He could really rip into them!

Cute boots!

A rocking giraffe! She named him T.J.

Princess Abigail and her magic wand.

A present for our tiny nephew-to-be: Baby Pickles! As you can see, Randi is delighted!

Mason and Mimi tickling Abigail! What fun!

Christmas morning - just woke up! Look at that hair!

A little blurry, but cute nevertheless.

Santa brought a singing, talking, smart shopping cart!

A new chair?! Cool! She loves having furniture just her size.

Playing with her toys from Santa.

Eggs, anyone?

She wouldn't stop playing with her shopping cart. We had to hide it in order to get her to open her other presents. Good job, Santa!

She's finally getting into opening presents! She can do it herself!

Mmmm...tastes like BACON!

Typical toddler: Taking a break from all the toys to play with boxes!

Her new "babies" from Mommy and Daddy.

Playing with the Clipo table.

Chance liked his present, too.

4 generations! 2nd annual Christmas Day photo.

In a pretty dress and rollin' on the floor!

This chair is just perfect for checking out the tree at Nani and Papa's...

Playing peek-a-boo over the couch with Nani.

Trying to convince Papa that she really does need a drink of whatever's in that cup.

In her jammies again ready for night-night. What a fun and blessed Christmas!

We have a new nephew!

Nicholas Preston Scritchfield

November 14, 2009

11:29 am

7 lbs, 8 oz.

19 inches

Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law on the birth of their son! We are so happy to have a healthy new nephew! I can't wait to see him - I just hope it will be soon, as they live in Arizona. Yay for a new baby!

Abigail is ONE YEAR OLD!

Where has the past year gone? Abigail is now one year old! A year ago today I was holding my new baby in my arms. Today, I'm holding a happy, vibrant, beautiful, smart toddler - when I can catch her! She is all over the place!

We held her birthday party at The Little Gym in Arlington/Mansfield, and it was a blast! I ordered ladybug cakes (one for us and one for her to mess up!) and she wore a tutu and ladybug bow made by Mimi. At the party, we played rhythm sticks, parachute (she LOVED sitting in the middle and playing "peek-a-boo" as everyone in the party lifted the parachute up and let it float down!). She did a few flips and jumped on a bounce house like thing with Poppy and Daddy, laughing all the while! She is my precious love and I adore her!

I knew I'd love being a Mommy - but I never knew it was quite this good. I hope that she and I will always have a good relationship. I love you, my little ladybug! These are just a few of my favorite pictures from the past year - I have many, many more! (Yes, they are in chronological order!)

Abigail's First Birthday Party

We held Abigail's first birthday party at The Little Gym in Mansfield/Arlington today, Saturday, November 7 at 1:00 pm. The Little Gym is a place where little kids can romp around - it is fully covered in gymnastics mats - and it has areas for kids to work on gross motor skills. Abigail has attended a class there and loved it, so I thought it would be a perfect place for her party. Everything was organized and prepared for me - no set up and no clean up! All I had to provide was the cake. (They were cute - ladybugs!) Plus, they had a "leader" there to keep everyone on track.

When the party first started, they began with a game of rhythm sticks. We all sat in a circle and beat sticks on a mat, and as the song changed, we tapped our shoulders, knees and toes with the sticks. Abby didn't do much other than bang the stick on the mat, but she seemed happy with that. She was shy at first because of all the people and all the attention directed towards her, and pretty much stuck to Robby or me like glue.

After that, we switched to a game of parachute. This was a lot of fun because it involved almost everyone - adults and all - in the party. We walked in circles singing, played games with the parachute, all hid underneath the parachute (all that is, except mason, who had fun hiding OUT of the parachute!). The most fun was when we put Abigail on top of the parachute, in the middle, and started playing "peek-a-boo" with her. We lifted it high, then as it drifted down, said "PEEK-A-BOO!" and she'd start laughing. It was a delight seeing her so happy! This was my favorite part.

After that, we had free time, where everyone could run around and play on the equipment. Abigail wasn't too interested in anything other than watching everyone else, although we tried to get her to do everything - anything - something! We made her do a couple of flips, but she clearly didn't like it, so we just let her watch Colby do them! He was amazing at it!

After a while, they got out the bucket of balls and balls were flying all over the place! There must have been 30 or so balls, all different shapes, colors and textures, and Abby and Mason had fun playing with them. When the leader added bubbles to the mix, they were in hog heaven!

When play time was over, we went to the party room where we ate cake and opened presents. She got some really great gifts, and a lot of needed pajamas! Over all, she had a very good first birthday party!